Gourav Bhowmik

Offer advice and recommendations to Executive Board, chair special meetings and build relations with administrative and non-administrative functionaries to raise funds for ISO

Discharge duties of both research and teaching assistants as and when required
Research concentration on Silicon Photonics & Nonlinear Optics with 2D materials and embedded nanostructures in Si
Teaching senior undergrads a course on Renewable & Alternate Energy Nanotechnologies

Hafnia is a high refractive index material used in the manufacturing of dielectric coatings for next generation lasers. The formation of defects during deposition is the major barrier to realizing high laser-damage resistant coatings for future high energy density laser applications. Understanding the precursors responsible for laser-induced damage in hafnia is therefore critical. In this work, we investigate the mechanism of laser-induced damage in 90-nm thick hafnia films produced by an oxygen assisted dual ion beam sputtering (IBS) process. Under pulsed, nanosecond ultraviolet laser exposure (355 nm, 8 ns), the laser-induced damage onset is found to be strongly dependent on the amount of argon and excessive oxygen entrapped in the nanobubbles within the hafnia films. The presence of nanobubbles is revealed and confirmed by small angle X-ray scattering and scanning/transmission electron microscopy coupled with high-angle annular dark-field. The damage onset is stable initially but decreases as the energy of oxygen goes beyond 100 eV. The damage initiation is ascribed to a laser-induced plasma generation within the nanobubbles through multiphoton ionization. The results reveal that nanobubbles formed in the IBS produced coatings are a potent precursor. Although nanobubbles are commonly present in IBS films, their negative impact on laser damage resistance of hafnia films has not been previously recognized. Our findings provide a fundamental basis for the development of potential mitigation strategies required for the realization of laser damage resistant hafnia films.

While hydrogen passivation has led to enhanced luminescence in many erbium doped materials, its effects on Er oxides/silicates compounds has rarely been demonstrated. Here we report effects of forming gas annealing on the luminescence properties in such Er compound materials. A broad band photoluminescence in the ultraviolet/visible range, likely arising from structural defects in the material, is significantly suppressed after forming gas annealing. Concurrently, the Er near-infrared luminescence intensity and its lifetime increase by about a factor of two and three, respectively. The samples are further characterized with Rutherford backscattering for composition information, optical absorption for optically excitable Er concentrations and extended x-ray absorption fine structures for Er local environments. We discuss the hydrogen passivation effects in the context of diffusion limited relaxation processes and suggest pathways to further improving near-infrared luminescence properties in Er compound materials.

Joule-heated electrodes have been used to enhance electrochemical analysis. Due to such direct heating, a steep temperature gradient is created near the electrode surface. The heating device that provides the high-frequency AC (50 kHz or more) has to be calibrated, in order to apply the desired temperature during analysis. The applied temperature of the working electrode influences both its electrical resistance and the electrochemical potential of a redox couple. Open circuit potentiometric (OCP) measurements were performed automatically with screen-printed gold loop electrodes (Au-LE), while applying 50 kHz AC heating pulses of increasing intensity provided by a ThermaLab® AC generator. Potentiometric temperature calibrations were performed using 5 mM equimolar ferri/ferrocyanide in 0.1 M of potassium chloride at 20 °C bulk temperature. Potential differences produced during each heat pulse were used to automatically calculate the electrode temperature using the temperature coefficient of this redox couple (-1.6 mV/K). The electrode resistance values at each heating pulse were obtained by measuring the heating voltage and heating current. The automatic temperature calibration experiments with five Au-LEs were shown to be highly reproducible and precise, with an RSD for the temperature of 0.24% and 4% for resistance. The average margin error of OCP temperatures were ±0.66 K at a 95% confidence level. The temperature coefficient (α) of electrical resistivity of the screen-printed gold layers was found to be 0.0025 °C^-1, which is 27% lower than the theoretical value for gold metal. These findings were confirmed by DC resistance measurements using a potentiostat. Comparing the OCP temperature with the resistivity method, the temperature difference was about 0.94 °C (2.8%). Both methods enable quick, reproducible and accurate temperature calibration for disposable Au-LE, which were also used for trace mercury detection in lake water samples